The Scribe of W1 and His Scottish Context

Abstract

This article examines W1 (Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek, cod. Guelf. 628 Helmstad.) as a source of musical identity in St Andrews through a “new philological” approach. Challenging the current view on the production of W1, it argues that a single singer-scribe, whose work spanned his association with at least two different bishop’s communities, was responsible for copying the manuscript’s entire contents. New archival assessments suggest that the manuscript was compiled for the community of secular clerics in St Andrews, who may have been taught by the scribe. Parisian polyphony, both in its written form and in performance, thus directly influenced the local production of liturgical polyphony, including a unique collection of polyphony for the Lady mass, at St Andrews Cathedral through the scribe of W1.